If you are thinking about having a redundant chimney stack removed from your Sheringham home, here is exactly what to expect from the first visit through to a clean, watertight finish.
Every chimney take-down starts with a proper look at the stack and the surrounding roof. A roofer cannot price this job accurately from the ground alone. The size of the stack, the condition of the surrounding tiles, the state of the felt and battens underneath, and the access situation all affect the price and the method. A survey means getting eyes on the actual job before any commitment is made.
During the survey, a roofer should be checking more than just the chimney. The tiles immediately around the stack are often disturbed or cracked from years of slight movement in the stack. The lead flashing may have been patched or repointed at some point in the past. The condition of the felt beneath the tiles in that area matters too, because if it is failing, the take-down is the right time to deal with it.
At this stage, the roofer should also confirm whether a full take-down to below roof level is appropriate, or whether the stack could be taken down to just above it and capped. The answer depends on the construction of the stack, how it ties into the roof structure, and whether there is a chimney breast inside the house that needs to be considered separately.
Safe chimney work requires safe access. On a standard two-storey house, a chimney stack sits at or above gutter height and well above the ridge in some cases. Working from ladders alone is not appropriate for the sustained, two-handed work involved in dismantling brickwork. Most chimney take-downs require either a scaffold tower or a run of tube-and-fitting scaffold with a working platform at or near ridge level.
If scaffold is needed, it is typically erected the morning of the job or the day before. It should give the roofer a stable platform at the right height and should be tied to the building at the appropriate points. The scaffold is left in place until all the roofing work is complete and signed off, then struck and removed.
On some properties, a HIAB lorry or materials hoist is used to handle the debris as bricks come down. On others, bricks are passed down by hand or lowered in a rubble bag. The method depends on the access to the property and the volume of material coming off the roof. This should be discussed and agreed before the job starts.
The actual take-down begins at the top. The chimney pot is removed first, then the flaunching (the sloped mortar collar that beds the pot into the top of the stack). Below that, the brickwork is taken down course by course.
Working methodically from the top down is important for two reasons. First, it means debris falls in a controlled way and can be managed on the scaffold platform rather than raining down onto the roof tiles. Second, it allows the roofer to check each course as they go, identifying any unusual construction details - like a steel lintel, an internal flue liner, or a stack that narrows unexpectedly - before they become a surprise problem.
The stack is taken down to just below the line of the existing lead apron flashing, which puts the new tile level slightly below the surrounding roof surface. This allows the new tiles to be lapped properly without creating a raised patch that looks or performs differently from the rest of the roof.
Once the brickwork is down, the old flashing comes out. On a well-maintained stack, this will be lead stepped into the brick joints on the sides and an apron piece lapping over the tiles at the front. On older or previously repaired stacks, it may be a combination of lead, mortar fillets and sealant. All of it needs to come out cleanly.
Removing the flashing also exposes the tile courses that were tucked beneath it. These tiles are often in poor condition - they have been sat under lead for decades and may be cracked, slipped or poorly bedded. They come out as part of this stage and are assessed for reuse or replacement.
With the stack and flashing removed, there is now an opening in the roof deck that needs to be properly closed. The first job is to check the structural timbers in that area. The trimmer joists that ran around the chimney penetration are exposed once the stack is out. If they are sound, they stay. If they show signs of rot or water damage, they need to be cut out and replaced before the roof is closed up.
The existing felt underlay is cut back beyond the opening on all sides to give a clean edge. New breathable felt membrane is cut to size and lapped into the existing underlay, running in the correct direction (laps going downslope, not up) so that any water tracking beneath the tiles is directed outward and downward.
New battens are fixed across the opening at the correct gauge for the tiles being used. On most pitched roofs this gauge is determined by the tile manufacturer's specification for the roof pitch in question, and it should match the gauge of the existing battens either side.
New tiles or slates are cut in to close the opening, working from the bottom of the area upward so that each course laps over the one below, just as on the rest of the roof. Matching the existing tiles as closely as possible is important for both appearance and performance. Where a perfect match is not available (common on older clay-tiled roofs), a roofer may be able to source reclaimed tiles from a salvage supplier to get closer to the original colour and profile.
The tiles surrounding the old stack are also checked at this stage. Any that were cracked, slipped or disturbed during the take-down are replaced. The verge and ridge areas near the old chimney are inspected and re-bedded where needed.
A finished chimney take-down should be invisible from the outside. There should be no patch, no raised area, no exposed mortar and no visible difference between the new section and the rest of the roof.
Before the scaffold comes down, the finished area should be walked and inspected from the platform. Every tile is checked for correct lap and fixing. The felt laps are checked from inside the loft space if accessible. Any mortar debris on surrounding tiles is cleaned off.
All brickwork, old mortar, broken tiles and lead is cleared from the scaffold, bagged and taken away. The property should be left clean. If any garden area or driveway was used for access or debris handling, it should be left in the same condition as it was found.
We carry out chimney take-downs across Sheringham and the nearby area from our base in North Walsham. If you want to know what the job will involve on your specific property, call us to arrange a survey and we will walk you through it.
No obligation · We usually respond within 2 hours
Storm damage, active leak, damaged ridge - we aim to be on-site within 24 hours.
